


Habits

by serenesavagery (DivergentElf)



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Female Tony, Female Tony Stark, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, What Was I Thinking?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-04-04 17:43:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14025363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DivergentElf/pseuds/serenesavagery
Summary: Habit; a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up.When one reads that, well, it's much easier to understand why Peter Quill and Antonia Stark keep showering affection on each other.Each little habit of theirs often has a story behind it, and neither of them regret them.





	Habits

Toni can't understand, all the gestures of affection Peter showers on her, why he does it apart from the fact they're dating, nope.  
  
She just can't.  
  
Okay, Peter thinks she's pretty and all, but, there wasn't much, anything else really to her, now, was there?  
  
And yet, he continued to prove her wrong every single time.  
  
  
  
When he kisses her, it's always passionate, and there's the usual dance of tongue against tongue, which usually leads to activities that would make Rocket gag.  
  
But sometimes, when it's just the two of them in a private compartment of the ship, he leans in forward, light shining in his eyes and he smiles, chuckles a bit and pulls her face up to his with his knuckles and kisses her softly.

 

He always makes it slow and gentle, whispering sweet nothings in her ears every time they pull apart to take a breather.

 

That's not the only time they kiss like this.

 

When they're tired out after making love in the private compartments of the ship, Toni would sleep on her side but not before she turns to see Peter smiling fondly at her with happiness shining in his eyes.

 

And then he pulls her in close with those rough knuckles of his and kisses her softly again, his hand gently trailing down her body until it stops at her waist and he holds her, close.

* * *

  


Toni loves to see the stars.

 

It was the one thing she loved about space since she was a child, and even after the Chitauri invasion, the stars were the only things about space that didn't traumatise her.

 

Peter loves showing Toni the stars, because excitement lights up in her usually cautious brown eyes, and she smiles so brightly he thinks it's better than the stars he keeps passing by.

 

Obviously they view it at a safe distance away from the stars, because hey, they _were_ non super powered humans who could suffer from permanent blindness if they stared at the stars for too long.

 

 _Never_ try that at home, kids.

 

It's _Toni_ that Peter looks at, however, not the stars.

 

It's Toni's wide smile and happy brown eyes that he thinks are beautiful, not the stars.

 

So whenever she asks him, excitement shining in her eyes, of how beautiful the stars are, he just nods, leaning sideways against the ship's wall and grins, saying that yes they are beautiful.

 

The stars would never be anything, always nothing, when compared to Toni.

 

It's one of the reasons the other Guardians, save Rocket, smile knowingly at Toni or at each other whenever she's gazing at the stars.

 

* * *

 

 

Toni isn't overly fond of the cold, since she was left out in the cold in a very painful state once.

 

The cold haunts her nightmares, it chills her down to the bone, making her want to cry out for it all _to just stop, Steve please stop jamming the shield in me, it's cold, Mama don't leave me out here, it's too cold._

 

Peter knows when she's cold, because he sees how her eyes quickly become haunted at the thought of unwelcome memories whenever she feels too cold, how she bites on her lip to stop herself from hyperventilating or gasping, how she hugs herself tightly, or how she clenches her jaw tightly.

 

Toni however, swears Peter snuck in a reporting thermometer onto her body  _somewhere_ so he knows when it's cold.

 

(Peter swears back that he'd never do something so invasive and perverted, however.)

 

If she's cold, Peter just wraps her in his jacket, not minding that he's left out in the cold himself with nothing but a shirt and jeans on.

 

Or when they're in bed, Peter tucks her in the bed with all the blankets over her and he just grins and slinks under the blankets and hugs her.

 

Because nothing can beat the cold like body heat can, after all.

* * *

 

Peter loves Toni's hands.

 

Toni’s never understood why, but she loves it, it makes her feel special and fills her with hope forevermore.

 

Peter thinks that the best thing about Toni’s hands is well...everything they do.

 

The way they're in accordance with her emotions, like how they do cute _'yes!!!’_ motions when she's excited, smug or happy or how they make _'definitely cuckoo’_ gestures when insulting someone when she has that sarcastic smile on her face. When she's sad or in one of her self hating moods, they're either sagging by the side, or hugging herself, uncertainly. It's like they have minds of their own.

 

Another thing he loves about her hands is how they're contradictions of their own; how they're smooth yet calloused from all the hard work she does by building tech and how they're delicate yet dangerous enough to tear a man apart.

 

Those hands of hers are creators of many wonderful things, they burn through the midnight oil to make so much of wonderful tech and he loves how those hands of hers wow him every time they make something.

 

(It's one of the reasons he thinks she's better as a Guardian than an Avenger; she's much better at protecting things than causing destruction in the name of ‘ _r_ _ighteous_ ’ revenge.)

 

He kisses them fervently, often with a smirk on his face as he sees how she's surprised he even bothers to pay attention to the hands that make things work.

 

From her knuckles to her palms to her wrists to her arms, he kisses slowly so that he can let her know how much he loves her for who she is.

 

Sometimes he kisses her fingers, especially during sex, and it's one of his favourite things to do when they're screwing each other senseless. Or if he's feeling particularly needy, he just covers them whole with his mouth, not minding how Toni breathlessly laughs in amazement at how utterly _greedy_ he gets about her.

 

He knows it makes her feel special and he loves it. 

* * *

 

 

The first time Peter braids someone's hair, it's Toni's hair naturally, because Mantis never needed her hair to be braided and Gamora would sooner use his intestines as a rope than let him anywhere near her hair.

 

He braids her hair, after _Gamora's_ braided Toni's hair, because hell, Peter wasn't a hairstylist.

 

Toni's slowly recovering from a panic attack and she's sitting on his bed while he screws his eyes shut, hating the fact that's she's miserable.

 

When he opened his eyes, Toni's hair was a bad case of bedhead, and she's not inclined to present herself neatly, which is very unusual.

 

Peter didn't know what got into him when he said that he could do her hair if she wanted him to and it gets her to laugh, because when on Earth did _he_ have the time to braid someone’s hair?

 

It soon turned out to be a challenge and Peter bravely accepted it, while Toni, smirking, sat down on the floor while he sat on the bed to braid her unruly hair.

 

Peter didn't know the first thing about braiding hair and he was just staring in despair at Toni's long hair until Gamora came in and laughed herself senseless when Toni, _still smirking, damn it woman,_ informed her that Peter was braiding her hair.

 

That's when Peter sulked at the side as Gamora braided Toni's hair.

 

But he watched keenly, seeing how Gamora’s fingers weaved in and out skilfully through Toni's hair and he feels envious at the fact Gamora's got Toni to grin brightly now and he swears _he's_ the one who'll braid her hair next.

 

(Because holy cow, Gamora teaming up with Toni to humiliate Peter is a sure fire way to kill him and he better reduce the time they spend together.) 

 

The next day, Toni gets a call from the spider kid who has the same name as him (he feels like it's destiny, to be honest) and she smiles fondly as he keeps chattering away at the speed of light at how Rhodey and Pepper are doing, how he's doing at school, how New York is etc etc.

 

(Rhodey; he could deal with. Pepper; _pure danger._ The woman should come with a warning sign, honestly.)

 

When the call is over, Toni sighed, knowing she'll never really know how the loving boy is really doing and that contact with him would be negligible at best.

 

That got her homesick, and she never noticed Peter hugging her from behind and the others rushing out of the room while Mantis cooed before being pulled back by Gamora.

 

Toni had sighed and Peter had carried her princess style to the bed so she could rest, as he explained later as they walked, and Toni had ended up sleeping for two hours after having slept soundly on Peter's chest, the latter having lied down on the bed.

 

Peter didn't expect that she'd get such a bad case of bedhead _a_ _gain_ and neither did Toni, as evident by her groaning at how she had to do up that _'lousy hair of hers again’_ and that's when Peter decided to be a gallant hero.

 

By offering to braid her hair.

 

On the bright side, it made Toni howl with laughter.

On the other side, he wasn't very happy of being made a laughing stock.

 

So he said he _could_ do it this time and all the times after this and Toni's eyes shined bright with mischief, and she said he _could_ give it a try.

And that was how Peter was the one braiding Toni's hair whenever she wasn't in the mood or was just plain tired.

 

He loved braiding her hair, loved feeling the texture of her hair against his hands, loved the fact Toni relaxed against him when she felt his hands moving in and out of her hair and loved the fact that _she_ loved it.

 

Sometimes, Peter weaved flowers in her hair.

Sometimes it was for laughs, just to see how Toni shrieked whenever she realised she was being played by him like a fiddle.

 

At other times?

 

He weaved it with flowers that were special to her, like the white orchids her mother laughed or simply with pretty flowers from other planets, only with due consent of course.

 

She once remarked it made her feel like a little princess and Peter considered it a good success because he knew of how few people in her life gave her a chance to be just a girl.

 

In fact, it was so frequent of a habit that Toni never noticed or protested whenever Peter did her hair.

* * *

 

Peter loves Toni, don't get him wrong.

 

It's just that, her hand to hand combat skills were _lousy._

 

Toni was great with firearms, and her Iron Woman suit was just the most dangerous suit in the galaxy.

 

But when she was unarmed?

 

Well, Toni wasn't stupid enough to go in unarmed, but _when_ she was unarmed, well.

 

Let's just say, even _Rocket_ could take her down in an unarmed fight.  

 

And he doesn't care if he's her boyfriend, because no one's gonna die with Gamora _and_ Drax teaching them to spar.

 

(Yes, it was merciless, but sacrifices had to be made if Peter was to sleep easy at any point of time without worrying about his starlight.)

 

Once, he sees her actually _holding her own_ against Gamora, who's panting and having a pleased smirk on her face, he stands in the doorway to watch her progress, raising his eyebrows in interest.

 

“Alright, you're going down!” Toni declares childishly, but the determined face she's having on is anything but childish and Gamora grins, her eyes darting towards Peter.

 

“I _know_ Star Lord’s standing there. Kick it.” Toni says in a low voice and Peter coughs because Toni does _things_ to him by calling him Star Lord, okay.

 

Gamora raises her hands in surrender. “Wasn't saying anything. Oh, and as you wish.” She says with a shrug, but she surges in forward and Toni stops her moving in any closer by pulling her over her head just by holding Gamora by the arm.

 

Toni doesn't celebrate however, as she quickly disentangled her grip from Gamora's arm and jumps back, still in a defensive position even though anything with eyes and a conscience could say that she was _dead_ tired.

 

Gamora gets up and quickly aims a kick at Toni, the latter side stepping in mere tiredness but Gamora changes tactic at the speed of light and lands quickly on a spot beside Toni, punching her in the chest and sending her flying

 

“Ow.” Toni only grouses, once her back has finished saying hello to the wall and is now pitifully resting on the floor.

 

Gamora’s smile is surprisingly gentle. “You're doing better, Toni. You still need some practice though.”

 

Toni got up, and sat down in a position which she had called Indian style when Drax had asked. (Apparently holy men from some Asian country called India sat in that way for meditation and apparently it helped blood circulation.)

 

“Yeah, but I still haven't gotten my degree in martial arts now, have I?” Toni groused, staring at the floor.

 

Peter cleared his throat, trying to look like more of a team leader than an adoring boyfriend by folding his arms and stopping himself from leaning against the wall.

 

“Toni, you're sparring with me in a few hours. Get ready.” Peter says curtly, putting his hands in his pockets and walking away.

 

Toni groaned and Peter hid his smirk.

 

True to his word, in a few hours, (Earth time, obviously) while a dead tired Toni gulped down two litres of water that Mantis was pouring down her throat, Peter came into the training room, wearing nothing but pants and a bare white shirt, wiping his knuckles all the while.

 

The other Guardians were watching as well, and Rocket muttered to Groot in a voice loud enough for Toni and Peter to hear. “I swear if they start flirting, I'm going to shoot down both of them with a _bazooka._ ” He hissed, folding his arms.

 

“I am Groot!” Groot said, looking confused.

 

"It's something you'll understand when you're older." 

"I am Groot!" 

"None of that disgraceful language!" 

 

“They're going to do just that. Why do you think Peter's wearing Toni's favourite shirt?” Gamora said dryly, folding her arms.

 

Drax exhaled. “Why are _we_ even here?”

 

Gamora smirked. “I want to see if Toni actually hands Peter's ass to him.” She said, her smirk widening.

 

Rocket rolled his eyes. “If the lady does just that, she's my favourite human.”

 

“I am Groot!” Groot chirped excitedly.

 

“Yeah, me too buddy.” Rocket said with a grin.

 

Drax scrunched up his face. “That _would_ be pretty amusing to watch.” He admitted, biting on his lip.

 

“And done!” Mantis chirped, taking away the bottle while Toni choked on the remaining water that was flowing down her throat.

 

“Fuck, Mantis! Give me a warning!” Toni choked, coughing and patting herself on the head.

 

“Uh uh, I wouldn't do that yet if I were you! We still haven't started and you're _already_ patting yourself on the head!” Peter said cheerfully.

 

“Go to _hell._ ” Toni hissed venomously while Mantis apologized profusely. Peter just shrugged, the bright smile on his face turning into a smirk.

 

“Make me.” He taunted, getting into a fighting position.

 

Toni glared. “I have a good mind to do just that.”

 

“Go Toni! Hand his ass to him!” Rocket shouted, raising his fist to the ceiling.

 

Toni winked at the watching Guardians. “Will do.” She said, giving them a thumbs up.

 

And she does.

 

Almost, Peter's pride insists.

 

Both of them were now lying on the floor, their faces close to each other as they stared at the ceiling together.

 

“Wow. I didn't expect you to make so much progress.” Peter says, breaking the silence that had fallen upon them.

 

Toni lets out a breathless chuckle. “I'm a genius. And besides, you weren't the only one who thought my hand to hand skills needed work.”

 

Peter tenses, wondering if a mention of the Avengers is about to arrive.

 

Surprisingly, it wasn't the Avengers (thankfully) but it seemed that Rhodey had pushed control of Toni’s hand to hand skills to the hands of a karate teacher once because according to him,  _“no CEO should be wandering around without self defence skills, especially if that CEO is my best friend.”_

 

Admiration for Rhodey swelled in Peter's chest and he lets out an exhale. “That's a relief. Looks like I wasn't the only one who was scared you'd walk into the bad guys’ hideout just blind.” He jokes, turning to face her with a slight smile on his face.

 

Toni faces him too and in that moment, both of them let out breathless laughs, even when their sides ache an awful lot.

* * *

 

Toni loves hearing Peter's heartbeat when they're sleeping side by side.

 

It reminds her that a wonderful person like Peter was out there in the universe, a person who's ready to give all his love and adoration for her and _her_ alone.

 

It's one of the few things that calm her when she's in the middle of a nightmare or a panic attack.

 

If Peter lies his head close to Toni's chest in a non sexual situation, she'd sooner hit his head with a wrench because she's Toni.

 

If Peter's suffering from a nightmare about losing his mother again, or just plain depressed, Toni wordlessly lets him sit on her lap and lets him calm down by allowing him to listen to her faulty heartbeat, all the while combing her fingers gently yet awkwardly through his hair.

* * *

 

When they're on a mission on Earth, and on top of that, with the _Avengers_ , Peter calms down Toni by pulling her into secret alleyways, be it in the city they're working in or in the alleyways of Avengers HQ (thank god it wasn't Stark Tower) and kissing her senseless.

 

The first time he did that was when he saw that Toni was uncomfortable working in Avengers HQ.

 

He knows how uncomfortable she was seeing her old... (well they certainly don't deserve the title of 'ex teammates’), so when they finish meeting up, Peter finds a good corridor to hide in and he steps aside and pulls in Toni by hugging her from behind and carrying her bridal style, who screams.  

 

“Shhh, it's me, Peter!” He whispers, looking at her earnestly.

 

Toni exhaled, placing a hand on her chest. “God, I thought it was an enemy ambush. Put me down and tell me why you did this stunt, capiche?” She asks sarcastically, raising her eyebrows.

 

Peter grins. “As you wish, m’lady.” He teases, gently putting her down.

 

Toni dusts herself, shaking her head. Peter's face becomes more serious when she looks at him.

 

“What?” She asks in surprise.

 

“You alright?” He asks gently, rubbing a hand over her cheek.

 

Toni's face softens. “Peter, I'm not some... princess you keep having to save from the Avengers, ok? It's not a problem.” She says quietly, touching the hand that's on her face.

 

Peter laughs. “I know you're not a princess, you've taken down aliens twenty times your size. It's just, I can't stop worrying, you know. I keep wondering if that Rogers asshole tries making any moves on you, or if that little bitch of a witch tries raping your mind again, or if that hawk asshole insults you and what that Widow lady is gonna do and…” He says heavily, running a hand through his hair the whole time he's talking. 

 

Toni laughs. “They're not a problem, Peter, I told you. Strange and Jessica love me. They're not going to let anything happen.”

 

“Let me do the same, ok?” Peter says, leaning in close.

 

Toni raises her eyebrows with a smile. “Yeah. And have you expose anybody's underwear by shooting their pants, I know what you're up to, mister.”  

 

Peter gives her a smirk. “Hawkass had it coming.”

 

And just like that, he pulls her into a kiss.

 

It's now a habit, like the rest of their little habits. Anytime they find a dark alleyway or corridor, they give each other a smirk and hide in there, kissing each other while their hands wander, exposing their longing for those kisses to be something more.

* * *

 

Toni's obviously homesick for the first few days when she joined the Guardians.

 

They did every subtle thing they can think of to make her home, and it's obviously worked out because now, whenever they mention Earth, Toni stops looking sorrowful and just happy to know that her planet’s doing well.

 

It never reassured Peter though.

 

So, feeling uncharacteristically nervous and hesitant, when he sees Toni looking at a star through the window, he touches her shoulder and just as expected, she doesn't jump at his touch.

 

“Hey.” Peter says in a low voice and Toni turns to look at him with a smile.

 

“What's up, Star Lord?” She asks mischievously and Peter slaps her ass.

 

“You absolute _fox."_  He says, laughing.

 

Toni laughs. “Don't tell me you still get a boner at that?”

 

Peter blushes. “No, well, not anymore. Still doesn't lower the magic of it though, if you know what I mean.” He says, rubbing the back of his neck.

 

Toni grins. “Yeah, I know.”

 

Peter's smile is a little sad. “Like home, right?”

 

Toni looks at him, confused. “What are you talking about?”

 

Peter blinks and then bends a little to face the window, resting his elbows on the wall and unable to face Toni. “I mean, you've known Earth for your entire life, it's your home, right, no matter what happens?” He asks, a little hesitant.

 

Toni laughed, her eyes shining.

 

Peter stares at her, blinking in confusion and a little hurt. “What's so funny?” He snaps a little, looking defensive.

 

“You being silly, that's what. I'm home _here_. With you, and the other Guardians.” She says, blushing a little.

 

Peter widens his eyes, as he looks up at her, who's tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear a little self consciously. “Really?” He asks, his voice hoarse.

 

“Yeah.” Toni whispers.

 

Peter's smile could have lit up the whole ship even though it was small.

 

“Thank you, stardust.” He says, his own eyes shining bright.

* * *

 

Toni's brought earphones and her own Walkman (usable in space, it was invented by Toni,  _thank you very much_ ) for when the sounds of the galaxy get too loud, and Peter _keeps_ forgetting that people can't hear through their earphones.

 

Sometimes, they just sit together, stare outside at the never ending black sky, speckled with stars with one earphone in Toni’s ear and the other in Peter's ear. Often they listen to songs from the 80s, and very rarely, modern songs. Songs that they listen even rarer to are cheesy romantic songs, and when they listen to those songs, one rests their head on the other’s shoulders or puts their jacket on the other.

 

(Often, it's Peter resting his head on Toni's shoulder and Peter's jacket over Toni's shoulders.)

 

Or they simply put the Walkman on loud and dance with each other, cheeks flushed and laughter loud.

 

Once, they danced under the rain, Toni's Walkman playing Saving All My Love For You by Whitney Houston on loud and both of them laughing as they danced an effing _waltz_ under the torrential rain.

 

(It was totally worth Gamora’s scolding of how 'they were only humans and were therefore prone to colds, so they should stop behaving like idiots’. Totally worth it.)

 

It's their favourite thing to bond over.

* * *

 

Scars are common, especially when you're a protector of a gazillion planets and a bajillion living organisms.

 

Peter often touches Toni's scars gently, or just plain kisses them much to her shock, just to remind her he doesn't care how many scars she gets, she'll still be beautiful to him.

 

It makes Toni shed tears in happiness.

 

Sometimes, Toni often traces _his_ scars and comments in an off hand manner on how sexy they are, making him either preen or grin.

 

The end result is that Toni rolls her eyes but no matter how silly he is over it, she still traces his scars with the gentlest of touches.

* * *

 

One of the games they play is folding their palm over the other's.

 

Peter always jokes about how _small_ Toni's hand is while Toni complains that he's a ‘fucking giant who should have a ship of his own’.

 

They never stop being fond of it though.

 

Peter plays the same game when Toni's tense or bored. If she's tense, she relaxes at his touch or if she's bored, the game makes her giggle.

* * *

 

The only time they're shy with their touches is when they arrive after a fight.

 

Blood is rushing, their hearts are beating faster and one would think that the adrenaline would make them kiss each other out of urgency.

 

While that _does_ happen, most of their touches are hesitant and tentative.

* * *

 

They were nothing more than twin stars, their own stardust making up the core of each other.

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, this is my first time writing these two and I love Starkquill so much?? In all dimensions? Please comment if it won't waste your time and polite criticism is appreciated!


End file.
